It has been ten years since Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province
in southwest China, became the first Chinese city to attempt
executions via lethal injection in 1997. On December 17, a reporter
from The Beijing News interviewed Liu Renwen, a death
penalty expert, about lethal injection procedures in China during
the past ten years. Liu stated that lethal injections should
replace execution by shooting in China.
Brainwaves go down to zero in a few seconds after
injecting
The Beijing News: It has been ten
years since China first adopted lethal injections; is this new
method becoming more popular?
Liu: Most of the inmates on death row in China
are executed by shooting, but lethal injections have become more
popular in some provincial capital cites. This trend will spread
from larger, centrally located cites to smaller, more remote areas,
from developed to the underdeveloped regions.
The Beijing News: Have you ever
witnessed an execution by lethal injection??
Liu: No, I have just heard about it from some
of my friends who work in the legal system. Lethal injections are
conducted in special rooms or vehicles designed for this purpose.
Convicts are strapped onto a bed and a heart rate monitor is
connected to their bodies. Their brainwaves drop to zero in a few
seconds after the injection. Legal medical experts write out death
certificates based on heartbeat and breath.
The Beijing News: What kind of people
can participate in the execution?
Liu: Judges, bailiffs, legal medical experts as
well as prosecuting attorneys. The problem is that it does not
conform to their work ethic for legal medical experts to "kill"
anyone, even condemned inmates. So forensic scientists are only
responsible for the death certificates in some places, and bailiffs
with specialized training are asked to give lethal injections.
Convicts lose consciousness first and then their hearts
stop
The Beijing News: Can you talk about
the drug used in the injection?
Liu: The drug has three ingredients: one is to
make receivers lose consciousness, one to paralyze the heart and
suspend pulmonary activities, and the third ingredient, potassium
chloride, can lead to cardiac arrest.
Notably, a lethal injection can also cause the inmate pain. In
fact, some unqualified prison staff members have been known to take
too long injecting the drug, causing pain to convicts.
Additionally, different people have different reactions to
different dosages; this demands close attention.
The Beijing News: Is there a
standardized drug dosage?
Liu: Currently the drug is provided free of
charge to local courts by the Supreme People's Court. Before that,
the Supreme Court controlled it and local courts could buy a single
dose for 300 yuan (US$41).
Execution grounds and vehicles cost too
much
The Beijing News: Lethal injections
can be carried out at special execution grounds or in vehicles in
China; which one is more commonly used?
Liu: It is not easy to popularize the new
method in China because it costs a lot. At present, specially
designed execution grounds and vehicles for lethal injection aren't
available in most district or county courts. It is estimated that a
lethal injection vehicle would cost 700,000 yuan (US$95,812) and an
execution field 1 million yuan (US$136,874). As far as I know, the
vehicles were very popular a few years ago, but the number has
decreased in the recent years. Lethal injection vehicles need
regular maintenance and they're abandoned after a period of time,
so many courts prefer building execution grounds.
The Beijing News: Are you saying that
it's difficult to popularize lethal injections in China?
Liu: Formal execution fields are expensive,
which may be one reason why it is difficult to spread the new
method in rural areas.
Is lethal injection a "privilege" for wealthy
people?
The Beijing News: According to
reports, local intermediate people's courts administer most lethal
injections, is this true?
Liu: All cases carrying the possibility of a
death penalty must be first submitted to intermediate people's
courts, so they administer the majority of executions via lethal
injection.
The Beijing News: Some people have
questioned whether lethal injection is a "privilege" for corrupt
officials and wealthy convicts, could you please comment on
this?
Liu: I don't think it is the case because the
issue is economic: it's expensive to use lethal injections.
Execution grounds are often located in cities, where corrupt
officials and wealthy convicts are usually detained, so it is
convenient for these criminals to receive lethal injections.
But the question is not completely beyond all reason. Courts
decide whether to choose shooting or lethal injection for a death
penalty case. Given that corruption is very common inside some
judicial departments, weak credibility can often raise questions
from the public.
The Beijing News:? I have even
heard that condemned criminals detained in the same place receive
different executions.
Liu: I also heard about this, too. In a
provincial capital city, most of the condemned criminals can
receive lethal injections, while a few very hardened criminals are
shot. I do not approve of this because I think all convicts should
receive the same treatment. Lethal injections should be
administered to all of them if possible.
Liu suggests special fund for execution
fields
The Beijing News: Do you think lethal
injections compared with shooting have more advantages?
Liu: The new method is more humane, and it is
less painful for inmates and less stressful for the prison
staff.
The Beijing News: Can lethal injection
avoid these kinds of problems?
Liu: Convicts and bailiffs are separated during
lethal injections. They can't see each other. Inmates reach out
their hands through a hole to receive injections in some execution
fields.
The Beijing News: Is there a better
way?
Liu: Four injections with the same dosage and
color are provided in some places when carrying out a lethal
injection. One contains a fatal drug; one is supporting medicine
and also there are two injections of saline water. Four bailiffs
will choose their injections randomly. No one knows who has been
given the fatal drug, which is helpful for relieving psychological
stresses among the operational staff, according to reports.
We should not neglect the psychological problems among prison
staff. In China, we have a superstition here that administering a
death penalty is not auspicious for the fate of executioners. I
feel that psychologists should be involved before and after an
execution.?
The Beijing News: Do condemned
criminals prefer lethal injections?
Liu: No one would chose shooting, according to
a Supreme People's Court poll given to convicts.
The Beijing News: How can this last
wish of condemned convicts be fulfilled?
Liu: Given that the right of reviewing the
death sentence belongs to the Supreme People's Court and that the
number of death penalties has sharply decreased, the time is ripe
for China to abolish shooting and popularize lethal injection
executions nationwide. Special funds are needed to build formal
execution fields for lethal injections.
(China.org.cn by Yang Xi, January 3, 2008)